


stay warm

by bucksnatalia



Series: soviet spouses drabbles [5]
Category: Black Widow (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Black Widow (2014) #15, F/M, Memories, Past Relationship(s), Post-Black Widow Hunt, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 06:42:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6459880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bucksnatalia/pseuds/bucksnatalia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky won't say it, but he loves Natasha. Somehow, Natasha knows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	stay warm

**Author's Note:**

> Drabble prompt from stars_inthe_sky for BuckyNat Week 2016!

She hadn’t seen him since he found her in Spain -- and that hadn’t really been the best of meetings. Natasha hardly expected him to make any further attempts to help her. 

And yet, here he was. 

“You know I’m always here for you,” he said, keeping his eyes ahead as he flew the airship. “And not just me.”   


Her head turned sharply towards him then -- the way he’d spoken, so certain, so unyielding, it started something flickering in the back of her mind that she couldn’t quite understand. It was a warm feeling, the sort of warmth she’d forgotten -- the feeling of _home_. 

She couldn’t explain it, but something was coming back. There was something about this man that seemed suddenly so familiar in a way that he shouldn’t have been. 

And then it hit her -- Prague, Barcelona -- she had felt a familiarity then, too, but never as strong as this. She’d been too preoccupied to think about it then, but now, with the enemy eliminated, with her mission complete... now she could _only_ think about it. 

He knew her. 

Memories were precious things -- so easily forgotten, so easily lost. She had no memories of him beyond their brief meetings, but somehow he knew her. More than that --

“ _Stay warm_.”   


“ _I’ve kept an eye on you since Prague_.” 

“ _I could take you anywhere, you know. We could --_ ” 

Words swirled together in her mind -- things she recognized, first, and then -- “ _Let me be your friend_.” 

Memories came rushing back in fragments -- stolen moments alone in the dark and praying they won't be caught, fighting side-by-side, the pain of loss, sleeping beside hospital beds -- but also slippery kisses in the rain and roses left on pillows and her own lips hovering beside his ear to whisper, “I think I love you, James Buchanan Barnes.” 

Natasha’s breath left her and she could only stare at the back of his seat. Barely seconds had passed and yet it felt like lifetimes. “You know I’m always here for you,” he’d said, but all at once she realized there was more to it than that, there was a meaning behind the words -- and not just now, but each time he’d found her, everything he’d said to her. She’d known in Prague there was something he’d wanted to say, but she couldn’t understand what. Now she heard it behind every word. 

“ _I love you_.”   


In her heart she knew that there had been a time when she loved him, too. 

“I know, Bucky,” she said at last, her voice as steady as ever. It would be better if he didn’t know that she remembered, at least for now -- it would be better to wait until she got it all back, not just bits and pieces. It would be better to wait until she knew if she could learn to feel the same way again. 

He still loved her, and that was why he had been watching her, and why he had tried to protect her from the blast. It was why he was looking for her when she disappeared and why he was so quick to find her again. He’d always been able to find her. 

Quickly, she looked away from him again, turning her ahead aside and returning the towel to her damp hair. She couldn’t tell him that she remembered, not now. It would be better to wait until she could come to terms with it all. She was convinced of that. 

“I know.” 


End file.
